title: "Is your contractor insured for this work" h1: "Insured is not one thing" description: ""Are you insured?" is a question almost every contractor can answer yes to."
"Are you insured?" is a question almost every contractor can answer yes to.
It is also a question that does not tell you much, because insurance is several different products covering several different problems, and a contractor can hold one and not the others. He can also hold exactly the right policy and still not be covered for the work you are about to hand him.
It takes one email to find out. It is worth sending before anyone starts.
Why it lands on you
If something goes wrong and the contractor is not covered, the problem does not stay with him.
A fire that starts in your attic, a flood from an open line, a delivery driver who puts a truck through your fence, a worker who falls on your property. If there is no policy behind the person responsible, the claim comes looking for the property owner and their insurer, and that is a much larger number than anything in the bid.
Your own homeowner or property policy may also have opinions about uninsured work being done on the premises. That is a conversation with your own agent, and it is a short one.
The kinds of coverage, and what each is for
General liability covers damage the contractor does to your property and injury to people who are not his employees. This is the one most people mean when they say insured, and it is the minimum.
Workers compensation covers his crew if they are hurt while working. It matters to you because an injured worker with no coverage behind him has a strong incentive to look at the property owner. If a contractor brings anyone else onto your job, this one is not optional.
Commercial auto covers his vehicles. It comes up more than you would think, because a lot of property damage on a job involves something being driven.
Builders risk covers the work in progress itself against fire, weather, and theft. It is normal on new construction and larger projects, and usually unnecessary on a bathroom.
Which of these you should expect depends on the size of the job and who is carrying the risk. A solo operator with no crew genuinely may not need workers compensation. A contractor bringing four people does.
Insured, and insured for this work
This is the part that surprises people.
Policies are written against a description of the business. That description carries classifications and exclusions, and they are specific. A policy written for general handyman work may exclude roofing. A policy may exclude work above a certain height, anything structural, anything requiring a licensed trade, or work the contractor subcontracts out rather than performs himself.
The certificate will say the policy exists. It will not say the policy covers what is happening at your house on Tuesday.
So the question worth asking is not "are you insured", it is "is this work covered under your policy". A contractor who carries proper coverage for what he does will answer that easily, and often already knows the exclusions by heart because his agent has walked him through them.
Getting the certificate, and reading it
Ask for the certificate of insurance to come from his insurer or agent directly, rather than as a file he forwards. This is a routine request and agents send them constantly.
Then check four things.
The named insured should match the business name on the bid. If the proposal is from one entity and the policy covers another, the policy is not standing behind the document you signed.
The dates should cover your job, including the end of it. A policy that expires partway through the work is a policy that expires partway through the work.
General liability should be listed, and workers compensation should be listed if he is bringing anyone.
The limits should be a number you are comfortable with relative to the value of the property, not just the value of the job.
Additional insured
The stronger move is to ask to be added as an additional insured on his policy for this job.
It means you are named on his coverage rather than relying on it from the outside, and it changes how a claim gets handled. A contractor who carries real coverage will do this without blinking, because his agent does it routinely for commercial clients.
Someone who stalls on it has told you something, and it may only be that he has never been asked. Either way it is a useful thing to have learned before the work starts.
The people he brings with him
A contractor's own policy may not extend to the people he hires.
On a job with several trades, ask whether his subcontractors carry their own coverage and whether he collects certificates from them. A contractor running a real business will say yes immediately, because his own insurer requires it of him.
Licensing is a separate question
Insurance and licensing are different things and holding one says nothing about the other.
Requirements vary a great deal by state and by trade, and some work that needs a licensed person in one place needs nobody in particular in another. Look up what your state actually requires for the trade in front of you and ask for the number.
A certificate proves a policy existed on the day it was printed. Asking whether this work is covered is the question that protects you.
Insurance and license details belong on the proposal alongside everything else, which is covered in what should a contractor bid include.